Improvement in machinery for separating granular materials



G. GONKLING. Machinery for Separating Granular Materials.

No. 222,815. Pa-tented Dec. 23,1879.

Jlffafwe UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

--GURDON GONKLING, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.-

IMPROVEMENT lN MACHINERY FOR SEPARATING GRANULAR MATERIALS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 222,815, dated December 23, 1879; application filed April 11, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GURDON GONKLING,

of Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machinery for (Joncentrating or Separating Granular Material of Dilfere-nt Specific Gravities by Puffs of Air; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the inven tion, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use it, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in machines for concentrating or separating granular material of different specific gravities by puffs of air.

1 am aware that there have been machines made using the air-puff obtained by means of a perforated diaphragm vibrating beneath the bed, and by several other methods.

My improvements consist in using an airchainber, into which a steady uniform pressure of air is forced through a woven or perforated passage-way, which extends around the interior of the air-chamber. The air as it is passed through the meshes or perforations of the passage-way is finely divided and produces no strong current in any particular direction, but is evenly distributed to all parts of the air-chamber.

The puifs of air necessary to be used in concentrating or separating granular material of different specific gravity which may be passing over the top of the ore-bed are produced by a vibratory motion being imparted to the bottom of the air-chamber, which is an airtight diaphragm composed of some flexible material. At each vibration of the diaphragm the quantity of air forced through the bed is again introduced into the chamber through the woven or perforated passage-way. Thus a uniform pressure is maintained therein.

The bed is constructed in sections, each of which sections consists of two slats braced apart by thin strips of metal. Over the upper surface of the openings thus formed cloth or its equivalent is tightly drawn. These sections are then placed side by side, and pressed into a frame which holds them rigidlytogether, andin this position make the ore-bed.

1n the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents the general construction of that part of a machine which embodies my improvements. Fig. 2 is a sectional view,showingthe interior of a machine similar to'Fig. 1, from which the bed has been removed, exposing the woven or perforated passage-way, and showing the diaphragm. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a perforated passage-way. Fig.

4 shows one of the sections of the bed before the cloth has been attached. Fig. 5 is a view of one of the sections after covering.

Similar letters designate similar parts.

A is the frame of the air-chamber. -B is the bed, constructed in sections, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. These sections are made by taking two thin strips, (iron or some similar material,) 13, which are held apart and kept parallel by the braces B (See Fig. 4:.) The cloth 0 is then drawn tightly over the top of the opening formed between the two strips B, extended down the sides and around the lower edge of the strips, B, and is held in its place by being sewed to the strips through the perforations 0 along the lower edge of the strips that form the sides of the sections. These sections are then placed side by side with a strip of cloth between them, to act as packing, and are then pressed into a frame, D, which is fastened to the main frame A.- This forms the bed over which the material to be operated passes, and through which the airpuft' forces the air.

It has been known to me that beds for this purpose have been made in sections, but these sections have heretofore been constructed of wood, on account of the facility with which the cloth could be fastened to it; but in using wood it was necessary to make the slats quite thick, in order to obtain the required strength, thus decreasing the area for the air-puff.

By the use of the series of perforations O, I am enabled to use very thin strips of iron in the place of wood, and gain .great advantage by its use in the increased area for the passage of air, and also in the rigidity or strength of the bed to obviate springing. The diaphragm forming the bottom of the airchamber is a solid piece of rubber, D, or its equivalent, attached to the under side of which is a plate, D to which is connected any suitable mechanism for imparting a vibratory movement to the diaphragm.

F is the air-supply passage, made of iron 'latin g the quantity of air entering the chamher.

In producing the air-puff there has been great difficulty found in preventing the air from being forced back through the supplypipe by the pressure produced by the movement of the diaphragm. This is obviated by forcing the air into the supply-pipe under greater pressure than that produced by the movement of the diaphragm.

What I claim is 1. In machinery for concentrating or separating granular material of different specific gravity, the combination, with the ore-bed B,

constructed and connected to the air-chamber A, substantially as shown and described, of the solid flexible diaphragm D, of the perforated air-supply pipe placed'beneath the ore-bed, for the purpose set forth, and of the regulatin grvalve E, substantially as shown and described.

2. In machinery for concentrating or separating granular material of different specific gravity, the combination, with the ore-bed B, constructed and connected to the air-chamber A, substantially as shown and described, of the solid flexible diaphragm D and of the regulating-vah'e E, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

GURDON GONKLING.

Witnesses:

FRANK H. STRIEBY, W. H. DE WI'r'r. 

